News Briefs

Canada's unemployment rate dropped substantially and unexpectedly to 6.5% in November, from 6.9% in the prior month, showing signs of a much-needed resiliency in the North American economy.

While GDP rebounded by 0.65% in Q3 (2.6% annualized), the expansion was driven almost entirely by a 2.2% drop in imports.

The Canadian economy saw a significant rebound in the third quarter. A 0.65% expansion in the quarter was more than enough to recover the downwardly revised 0.47% contraction in the previous second quarter.

After holding the policy rate unchanged in the past three meetings, Bank of Canada on Wednesday resumed its rate cut cycle, lowering its target for the overnight rate by 25 basis points to 2.5%.

The Producer Price Index for Final Demand (PPI-FD) declined 0.1% MoM in Aug, bring the annual increase down to 2.6% from 3.1% in the previous month.

The unemployment rate in Canada has risen to 7.1% in August, the highest level since May 2016 outside of the pandemic era, StatCan reported Friday.

Canada's GDP contracted by 0.4% (or 1.6% annualized) over the second quarter, amid a 7.5% (26.7% annualized) drop in exports as the impact of US-imposed tariffs started to bite.

Canada retail sales increased 1.46% month-over-month in June while core retail sales, which exclude gasoline and auto sales, was up 1.95%.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) intervened twice in the foreign exchange market on Thursday (July 3) to soak up a total of HKD 29.6 billion from the city's interbank liquidity market, as HKD exchange rate fell toward the weak end of its official trading band.

The US government on April 22 received USD 11.7 billion from customer duties in a single day, the first time we can observe a substantial increase in import duties revenue resulted from the new of tariff from the second Trump administration.